Notes From UConn's Win Over North Carolina

The relationship between the teams ended with UConn’s historic 86-35 win Monday at Gampel Pavilion, the largest defeat in the history of North Carolina basketball, men or women.

After winning five of the first seven games, the Tar Heels lost the last five. The final four were by an average of 37.0 points.

“Basically, a lot of the reason is recruiting,” Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “They consistency get the best players in the country and that helps a lot. We’d always been able to handle their pressure, but we don’t quite have the same kind of athletic team as we’ve had in the past.

“We’ve gone down a bit and they’ve gone up some.”

If Geno Auriemma has his way, nationally ranked non-conference opponents will be on his schedule forever.

This season, the Huskies have Texas A&M, Stanford, Baylor, North Carolina, Duke and Oklahoma on their plate. UNC has been replaced next season with Maryland, Oregon and whoever is added to the field of the Caribbean Classic in St. Thomas over Thanksgiving.

“You hear about some of the other teams that we play, and some of those games are unavoidable,” Auriemma said. “I don’t think there is anyone out there we haven’t played. The more we expose ourselves to a schedule like that, the better the program, the better our players get.”

Banks misses game

Freshman guard Brianna Banks did not play Monday after suffering what UConn called a “head injury” during Sunday’s practice. It is not considered series because she is expected to practice Wednesday and play Thursday against Cincinnati. … After averaging 14.5 points, five rebounds and three assists last week, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named the Big East’s Freshman of the Week again. She shot 50 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from three-point range. Against Providence on Jan. 10, she had 13 points, six assists, eight rebounds and two steals. At Villanova on Saturday Jan. 14, she scored 16 points (6 of 12 from the floor, 3 of 5 from three. She also added three steals. … Auriemma said the coaching staff didn’t have a great chance to scout North Carolina before the weekend because there are rules preventing film exchanges of conference games, unless it’s televised. “There are all these agreements within the conferences that game film isn’t sent out to non-conference teams,” Auriemma said. “They hadn’t been on television a lot, so we really didn’t have a great sense of who they were.” … This was the 18th consecutive season the Huskies have played on Martin Luther King Day. This was the fifth time in the last six years the opponent was North Carolina.

Sun asked about Cash

Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault and assistant Scott Hawk were at the game. Thibault said the team had preliminary discussions with the Seattle Storm about acquiring former UConn star Swin Cash before she was dealt to Chicago. “We didn’t have what Seattle for looking for in return,” Thibault said. The Sun have the 9th pick in the first round of the draft and Thinbault said UConn senior Tiffany Hayes still has a good chance to be a first-round pick. “She’s a streak shooter, but she has definitely improved as a ball-handler because all of Geno’s have had to handle it this year. And she has the length and quickness to be a good defender. She’s one of those players you don’t know about. She can turn out to be great. But you just don’t know.” … USA Basketball says there will be no exhibition game this summer between Auriemma’s Olympic team and the WNBA prior to the London Games.